Study of Human Evolution and Its Effects on Modern Humans from Ancient Species

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Study of Human Evolution and Its Effects on Modern Humans from Ancient Species Volume 5, Issue 9, September – 2020 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology ISSN No:-2456-2165 Study of Human Evolution and its Effects on Modern Humans from Ancient Species Nishi Joshi, Urmil Shingala School of Biosciences and Technology Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, India Abstract:- Homo sapiens took so long to evolve from grasslands , They started walking on two feets instead of the ancient hominin species. This study shows how four feets. This is the critical condition which is humans evolved from ancient species and what considered in which Hominids evolved from changes they adapted as a result of that. Basically Hominoid. This process is called Hominization. what parameters mainly affected the development Hominization took place in Africa where fossils of of the humans are described here. After Homo early hominids are available. This adaption of Sapiens evolved from Hominin species is having locomotion is known as “bipedalism”. “Australopithecines” some evidence that supports the theory of mating is the term used for early Hominids. They made use of between Homo sapiens and Hominin. tools for survival and had large brains. Further evolution in this species resulted in a genus homo called “ Homo Heidelbergensis, Neanderthal. Gorilla, homo habilis”. Homo were further evolved into H. human, chimpanzees have nuclear mitochondrial erectus. They had many similarities with modern DNA on chromosome 5.It will provide the evidence humans but they were taller than modern humans , that exchange of genes from Gorilla lineage, resulted in though brain size was much smaller. The distinct the Pan-Homo split(Pan-paranthropus),and formation characteristics of H.erectus were its use of fire and of paranthropus and Australopithecus species took speech. They dispersed in Asia , Europe , southwest place. The shape of Brain also has some changes as Asia , Chaina. In the end of that period , the global a result of evolution. H. sapiens have the brain climate had changed to a different temperature scale, where endocranial shape which resembles an intermediate cold all the time was not noted. This period is known as between H.erectus and Neandertals. Sometimes gene the quaternary period. Frequent warm intervals took loss mutations in some genes resulted in some huge place. A bigger brain was developed by homo erectus to dietary evolution. Mutations observed in gene survive in such climate change. Further evolution took TAS2R62, TAS2R64 bitter taste receptor genes and place after H.erectus is Homo sapiens. Highly cooperative MYH16,AMY1 resulted in some huge dietary changes. and unaggressive Neanderthals interbred with H.sapiens as edible insects were available. This interbreeding Keywords:- Homo Sapiens, Evolution, Hominin, Human, resulted in behavioral and neurological differences in Darwin, Neanderthal, Mosaic Evolution. modern humans. H. sapiens in the sub-Saharan region didn’t undergo any interbreeding. H.heidelbergensis and I. INTRODUCTION homo sapiens both interbred because of humidity and established the survival of hominins which are non The Hominid group includes the creatures without fire making. One distinct hominid species was tail, swinging arms and shape of teeth. This group discovered on the island of Indonesia known as includes both humans and apes. All present and ancient H.floresiensis with a very small brain. Limited food humans are included in the group called hominoid. sources in Flores(island of Indonesia) led to H.erectus Humans of this era are included in the group known as developing into smaller body size. Human evolution also Hominids with comparatively large brains and was caused by introgression from gorillas. With the walking capacity. In direction of the end of the time . help of lineage sorting , 15% of the genes got 6 million years ago the climate went on becoming drier, involved in paranthropus and 15% of genes got involved in temperature fell down, ice caps formed. Respect to Homo. “Ps5”(nuclear mitochondrial DNA segment) was these climate changes, tropical forests became given from gorilla to pan and Homo. By comparing smaller and formation of grasslands and open woodland “Ps5” with mitochondrial genome, the time taken for took place on a large scale. Due to the reduction of diversion of Ps5 between Pan, Homo,and gorilla and the the tropical forest, Hominoids who were living in East time period of diversion of mtDNA of gorilla,homo and Africa got trapped. As an adaptation to cross open pan can be determined. IJISRT20SEP739 www.ijisrt.com 1259 Volume 5, Issue 9, September – 2020 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology ISSN No:-2456-2165 Fig 1:- Phylogenetic tree showing the evolution Remarkable evolution is known in the brain shape. In Apart from that, dietary and phenotypic direction to the old to developed H.sapiens , The evolution has also been noticed. MYH16 gene was cerebellum becomes more swelled and expanded in area, found in masticatory muscles of non-human primates. partial areas swelled, more taller the frontal areas, As a result of evolution 2 bp deletion in exon 18 occipital areas becomes less impeded and turned in occurred and frame shift of the downstream amino acid rounder shape, side walls came parallel, temporal poles sequence took place. After evolution, reduced size of turned anterior-medially and became slender. muscle type-2 fiber is seen in modern humans. Salivary Globularity took place due to these changes. This data amylase gene is not observed in the Denisovan and gives information about genes which are important for Neanderthal genomes, so the origin of the AMY1 gene the behavior and the brain function. Gene which is was observed in modern humans. Neanderthals and involved in the development of language and speech is Denisovans used to consume starch rich food for survival known as FOXP2. This gene is having one amino acid and they did not obtain the digestive benefits of increased substitution in an intron in the modern human. This salivary amylase. In the Neanderthal genome substitution affects the regulation of FOXP2 gene by TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor was observed which was affecting a binding site for transcription factor. It is sensitive against the PTC(Phenylthiocarbamide). In found polymorphic or not present in Neanderthals. contrast modern humans have nonsynonymous mutations on 49,262,296 positions of amino acids. These derived haplotypes do not have PTC sensitivity. It is observed in chimpanzees too. Objective Proper organization of knowledge involving human evolution and supplementing them with the latest research results. II. MATERIALS & METHOD To verify the information regarding the topic PubMed search was conducted which included articles between 2010–2018. Amalgamation of the above key words were used: ‘Homo sapiens’, ‘Evolution’, ‘ Hominin’, ‘Human’, ‘Darwin’, ‘Neanderthal’ (key words: Mosaic evolution and Darwin) to verify the information obtained. The complete text of every paper was considered, with specific focus on papers having information regarding human evolution. The main aim for this activity was to provide readers with the knowledge of relevant articles allowing the reader to get updated with the current literature and interpret and conclude. Fig 2:- It shows the development of structure of brain and its size over a period of years IJISRT20SEP739 www.ijisrt.com 1260 Volume 5, Issue 9, September – 2020 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology ISSN No:-2456-2165 III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION REFERENCES Climate changes like reduction of the tropical [1]. Sarah Umer, 2018, A brief history of human evolution: forests resulted in evolution of Hominids from challenging Darwin’s claim Hominoid. Interbreeding between H.sapiens and [2]. Kwang Hyun Ko, (2016), Hominin Denisovans resulted in developed ability to survive and interbreeding and the evolution of human variation, live in the mountains. Gene Exchange from Gorilla resulted DOI 10.1186/s40709-016-0054-7 in human-chimpanzees split. Because of that Pan and [3]. Simon Neubauer,* Jean-Jacques Hublin, Philipp homo got diverted. Evolution also resulted in the brain Gunz, The evolution of modern human brain shape of the human. Globularization took place. Size shape,August 25,2020 increase which was observed in parietotemporal areas [4]. Richard J. Smitha, Bernard Woodb, The principles and cerebellar resulted into the endocranial shape and practice of human evolution research changes from geological age group 1 to 2. A recent study [5]. J. Chaline, A. Durand, A. Dambricourt Malassé, shows that the genetic material of Neanderthals B. David, F. Magniez-Jannin and D. Marchand, exchanged some genes in modern humans that have an Geological Society, London, Special Publications, impact on the brain and cranial morphology. 181, 185-198, 1 January 2000 [6]. Musaddeque Ahmed, Ping Liang* IV. CONCLUSION Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada, The claim that was given by Charles Darwin was Study of Modern Human Evolution via Comparative opposed regarding the ‘From where the man originated’, Analysis with the Neanderthal Genome that stated that man from some apes-like organism. The [7]. JH Relethford, Department of scientists who support Darwin have stated that over a span Anthropology, State University of New York of 5 million years of man’s evolution, the evolution College at Oneonta, Oneonta, NY, USA, Genetic took place from one species to another. The evolution evidence and the
Recommended publications
  • UNIT 4 HISTORY of HUMAN EVOLUTION* History of Human Evolution
    UNIT 4 HISTORY OF HUMAN EVOLUTION* History of Human Evolution Contents 4.0 Introduction 4.1 Trends in Human Evolution: Understanding Pre-modern Humans 4.2 Hominization Process 4.2.1 Bipedalism 4.2.2 Opposable Thumb and Manual Dexterity 4.3 Summary 4.4 References 4.5 Answers to Check Your Progress Learning Objectives: After reading this unit you will be able to: analyze the major trends in human evolution; review characteristics which distinguish human from their primate ancestors; learn anatomical and cultural changes associated with the process of hominization; and comprehend the significance of these changes during evolution of human. 4.0 INTRODUCTION Humans first evolved in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago from an earlier genus of apes called Australopithecus, which means ‘Southern Ape’. About 2 million years ago, some of these archaic men and women left their homeland to journey through and settle vast areas of North Africa, Europe and Asia. Since survival in the snowy forests of northern Europe required different traits than those needed to stay alive in Indonesia’s steaming jungles, human populations evolved in different directions. The result was several distinct species, to each of which scientists have assigned a pompous Latin name. Humans in Europe and western Asia evolved into Homo neanderthalensis (‘Man from the Neander Valley’), popularly referred to simply as ‘Neandethals’. Neanderthals, bulkier and more muscular than us Sapiens, were well adapted to the cold climate of Ice Age western Eurasia. The more eastern regions of Asia were populated by Homo erects, ‘Upright Man’, who survived there for close to 2 million years, making it the most durable species ever.
    [Show full text]
  • Mechanics of Bipedalism: an Exploration of Skeletal Morphology and Force Plate Anaylsis Erin Forse May 04, 2007 a Senior Thesis
    MECHANICS OF BIPEDALISM: AN EXPLORATION OF SKELETAL MORPHOLOGY AND FORCE PLATE ANAYLSIS ERIN FORSE MAY 04, 2007 A SENIOR THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN- LA CROSSE Abstract There are several theories on how humans learned to walk, and while these all address the adaptations needed for walking, none adequately describes how our early ancestors developed the mechanism to walk. Our earliest recognizable relatives, the australopithecines, have several variations on a theme: walking upright. There are varied changes as australopithecines approach the genus Homo. These changes occurred in the spine, legs, pelvis, and feet, and changes are also in the cranium, arms and hands, but these are features that may have occurred simultaneously with bipedalism. Several analyses of Australopithecus afarensis, specifically specimen A.L. 288-1 ("Lucy"), have shown that the skeletal changes are intermediate between apes and humans. Force plate analyses are used to determine if the gait pattern of humans resembles that of apes, and if it is a likely development pattern. The results of both these analyses will give insight into how modern humans developed bipedalism. Introduction Bipedalism is classified as movement of the post-cranial body in a vertical position, with the lower limbs shifting as an inverted pendulum, progressing forward. Simply, it is upright walking. Several theories have addressed why bipedalism evolved in hominids, with some unlikely ideas taking hold throughout the history of the issue. Other theories are more likely, but all lack the same characteristic: answering how bipedalism developed.
    [Show full text]
  • Denisovans, Neanderthals Or Sapiens?
    Could There Have Been Human Families... 8(2)/2020 ISSN 2300-7648 (print) / ISSN 2353-5636 (online) Received: March 31, 2020. Accepted: September 2, 2020 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2020.019 Could There Have Been Human Families Where Parents Came from Different Populations: Denisovans, Neanderthals or Sapiens? MARCIN EDWARD UHLIK Independent Scholar e-mail: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0001-8518-0255 Abstract. No later than ~500kya the population of Homo sapiens split into three lin- eages of independently evolving human populations: Sapiens, Neanderthals and Den- isovans. After several hundred thousands years, they met several times and interbred with low frequency. Evidence of coupling between them is found in fossil records of Neanderthal – Sapiens offspring (Oase 1) and Neanderthal – Denisovans (Denisova 11) offspring. Moreover, the analysis of ancient and present-day population DNA shows that there were several significant gene flows between populations. Many introgressed sequences from Denisovans and Neanderthals were identified in genomes of currently living populations. All these data, according to biological species definition, may in- dicate that populations of H. sapiens sapiens and two extinct populations H. sapiens neanderthalensis and H. sapiens denisovensis are one species. Ontological transitions from pre-human beings to humans might have happened before the initial splitting of the Homo sapiens population or after the splitting during evolution of H. sapiens sapiens lineage in Africa. If the ensoulment of the first homo occurred in the evolving populations of H. sapiens sapiens, then occasionally mixed couples (Neanderthals – Sa- piens or Denisovans – Sapiens) created relations that functioned as a family, in which children could have matured.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Evolution of Human Fire Use
    ON THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN FIRE USE by Christopher Hugh Parker A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology The University of Utah May 2015 Copyright © Christopher Hugh Parker 2015 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Christopher Hugh Parker has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Kristen Hawkes , Chair 04/22/2014 Date Approved James F. O’Connell , Member 04/23/2014 Date Approved Henry Harpending , Member 04/23/2014 Date Approved Andrea Brunelle , Member 04/23/2014 Date Approved Rebecca Bliege Bird , Member Date Approved and by Leslie A. Knapp , Chair/Dean of the Department/College/School of Anthropology and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT Humans are unique in their capacity to create, control, and maintain fire. The evolutionary importance of this behavioral characteristic is widely recognized, but the steps by which members of our genus came to use fire and the timing of this behavioral adaptation remain largely unknown. These issues are, in part, addressed in the following pages, which are organized as three separate but interrelated papers. The first paper, entitled “Beyond Firestick Farming: The Effects of Aboriginal Burning on Economically Important Plant Foods in Australia’s Western Desert,” examines the effect of landscape burning techniques employed by Martu Aboriginal Australians on traditionally important plant foods in the arid Western Desert ecosystem. The questions of how and why the relationship between landscape burning and plant food exploitation evolved are also addressed and contextualized within prehistoric demographic changes indicated by regional archaeological data.
    [Show full text]
  • THE HOMINIZATION PROCESS of HOMO SAPIENS Ajeet Jaiswal University of Delhi, Delhi, India
    TENSIVE COURSE IN BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 1st Summer School of the European Anthropological Association 16–30 June, 2007, Prague, Czech Republic EAA Summer School eBook 1: 43-46 THE HOMINIZATION PROCESS OF HOMO SAPIENS Ajeet Jaiswal University of Delhi, Delhi, India The Hominization process consists of evolutionary transformation of hominoids into Hominids. It is a process that has occurred in the hominoid-line since its divergence from the last common hominoid ancestor shared with any living ape. Initially the term has a restricted meaning and implied emergence of modern man, different from all other forms. Currently, however, the term is broadened and includes all those aspects of structural and behavioral changes that occurred in the Hominid line finally leading to man. All such changes can be broadly grouped into following heads. 1. Bipedalism 2. Hand manipulation and tool use (manual dexterity) 3. Modification of jaw and teeth. 4. Enlargement of brain 5. Changes in vocal tracts, language and speech Bipedalism Analysis of postcranial elements of A. africanus, A. afarensis, A. ramidus (Tim et al. 1994) and A. anamensis (Leakey et al. 1995) clearly establishes bipedalism to be one of the oldest of all hominid characteristics. The age of most primitive australopithecines. A. ramidus is estimated to be 4.4 mya, perhaps one million years after separation of ancestral lines leading to great apes and man. The branch point between ape and human accestors is estimated to be 5-6 mya. According to Stanford (1995). A. ramidus was a biped, its lower body was clearly adapted for walking on the ground, though they may have continued to use trees for gathering fruits and for shelter at night.
    [Show full text]
  • The Brain in Hominid Evolution
    v\useum o/ ,\. %,'*/ * \ 1869 THE LIBRARY j? THE BRAIN IN HOMINID P EVOLUTION PHILLIP V. TOBIAS The brain in hominid evolution g COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS Q NEW YORK & LONDON i 9 yi Phillip V. Tobias is Professor of Anatomy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. This book is based on the author's James Arthur Lecture, delivered at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, April 30, 1969; it was the thirty-eighth in this series of lectures. Copyright © 1971 Columbia University Press International Standard Book Number: 0-231-03518-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 78-158458 Printed in the United States of America LIBRARY OFTHE AMERICAN MUSEUM JAMES ARTHUR LECTURES ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN BRAIN March 15, 1932 Frederick Tilney, The Brain in Relation to Behavior April 6, 1933 C. Judson Herrick, Brains as Instruments of Biological Values April 24, 1934 D. M. S. Watson, The Story of Fossil Brains from Fish to Man April 25, 1935 C. U. Ariens Kappers, Structural Principles in the Nervous System; The Development of the Forebrain in Animals and Prehistoric Human Races May 15, 1936 Samuel T. Orton, The Language Area of the Human Brain and Some of Its Disorders Apnl 15 R. W. Gerard, Dynamic Neural Patterns Franz Weidenreich, The Phylogenetic Development of the Hominid Brain and Its Connection with the Transformation of the Skull G. Kingsley Noble, The Neural Basis of Social Behavior of Vertebrates John F. Fulton, A Functional Approach to the Evolution of the Primate Brain Frank A. Beach, Central Nervous Mechanisms Involved in the Reproductive Behavior of Vertebrates George Pinkley, A History of the Human Brain James W.
    [Show full text]
  • Religion, Science, and Culture on Human Origins
    European Journal of Science and Theology, August 2015, Vol.11, No.4, 29-42 _______________________________________________________________________ RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND CULTURE ON HUMAN ORIGINS Rubén Herce* Universidad de Navarra, Ecclesiastical School of Philosophy, Edificio de Facultades Eclesiásticas, 31009 Pamplona, Spain (Received 30 September 2014, revised 17 March 2015) Abstract The most recent anthropological and genetic research has shed new light on human origins and contributed to seemingly rule out the concepts of ‗Mitochondrial Eve‘ and ‗Y-Chromosome Adam‘ as our Most Recent Common Ancestors. In addition, it has posed new questions about how many ancestors human beings have and whether the Christian doctrine on the origin of human beings and original sin still makes any sense. To address these questions we need to consider not only the latest population genetics data, but also the contributions of other sciences, such as cultural and biological anthropology. This paper reviews the current state of research and attempts a philosophical reading of the data, taking into account the Christian teaching on human origins and original sin. Keywords: monogenism, polygenism, original sin, human origins, human species 1. Introduction Following some recent scientific papers, such as ‗Inference of Human Population History from Individual Whole-Genome Sequences‘ [1], some authors have pointed out the possibility of harmonizing the Christian doctrine of original sin with the new scientific data [2]. These papers infer that the existence of a group of a few thousand individuals would be required, about 40,000 years ago, to account for the whole human genome of today. A portion of that group would have remained in Africa and the rest, less numerous [3], would have left the continent.
    [Show full text]
  • Unit 2 Biological Evolution of Humans*
    UNIT 2 BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF HUMANS* Structure 2.1 Objectives 2.2 Introduction 2.3 Theories of Evolution 2.3.1 Pre-Darwin Theories of Evolution 2.3.2 Darwinism 2.3.3 Synthetic Theory of Evolution 2.4 Hominization 2.4.1 Bipedalism 2.4.2 Encephalization 2.4.3 Sexual Dimorphism 2.4.4 Other Factors 2.5 Human Evolution 2.5.1 Before Homo 2.5.2 Evolution of Genus Homo 2.6 Summary 2.7 Key Words 2.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises 2.9 Suggested Readings 2.10 Instructional Video Recommendations 2.1 OBJECTIVES This Unit deals with the biological evolution of humans. After going through the Unit, you will be able to: z Describe the phenomenon of evolution; z Compare and evaluate the various theories of evolution; z Explain the contribution of Darwin to evolution; z Appreciate how fossils are the greatest evidence of evolution of humans; z Identify differences between apes and humans; and z Explain how apes transformed to Homo sapiens. 2.2 INTRODUCTION Hall and Hallgrímsson (2008) defined evolution as ‘change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations’. Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher and sociologist, first articulated the term ‘evolution’ in 1862 to denote the * Prof. Rashmi Sinha, Faculty of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi National 32 Open University, New Delhi. historical development of life. Evolution is the progressive change within the organism. Biological This change is termed as ‘micro-evolution’when it occurs over a period of time and Evolution of referred as ‘macro-evolution’ when it involves the transformational changes from one Humans being to the other.
    [Show full text]
  • A Connectomic Hypothesis for the Hominization of the Brain
    Cerebral Cortex, May 2021;31: 2425–2449 doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa365 Advance Access Publication Date: 26 December 2020 Feature Article FEATURE ARTICLE A Connectomic Hypothesis for the Hominization of Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/31/5/2425/6047724 by guest on 24 September 2021 the Brain Jean-Pierre Changeux 1,2, Alexandros Goulas 3 and Claus C. Hilgetag 3,4 1CNRS UMR 3571, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris, France, 2Communications Cellulaires, Collège de France, 75005 Paris, France, 3Institute of Computational Neuroscience, University Medical Center Eppendorf, Hamburg University, 20246 Hamburg, Germany and 4Department of Health Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02115, USA Address correspondence to Jean-Pierre Changeux CNRS UMR 3571, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris, France. Email: [email protected]. Abstract Cognitive abilities of the human brain, including language, have expanded dramatically in the course of our recent evolution from nonhuman primates, despite only minor apparent changes at the gene level. The hypothesis we propose for this paradox relies upon fundamental features of human brain connectivity, which contribute to a characteristic anatomical, functional, and computational neural phenotype, offering a parsimonious framework for connectomic changes taking place upon the human-specific evolution of the genome. Many human connectomic features might be accounted for by substantially increased brain size within the global neural architecture of the primate brain, resulting in a larger number of neurons and areas and the sparsification, increased modularity, and laminar differentiation of cortical connections. The combination of these features with the developmental expansion of upper cortical layers, prolonged postnatal brain development, and multiplied nongenetic interactions with the physical, social, and cultural environment gives rise to categorically human-specific cognitive abilities including the recursivity of language.
    [Show full text]
  • Roots of Language
    Roots of language Derek Bickerton language Classics in Linguistics 3 science press Classics in Linguistics Chief Editors: Martin Haspelmath, Stefan Müller In this series: 1. Lehmann, Christian. Thoughts on grammaticalization 2. Schütze, Carson T. The empirical base of linguistics: Grammaticality judgments and linguistic methodology 3. Bickerton, Derek. Roots of language ISSN: 2366-374X Roots of language Derek Bickerton language science press Derek Bickerton. 2016. Roots of language (Classics in Linguistics 3). Berlin: Language Science Press. This title can be downloaded at: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/91 © 2016, Derek Bickerton Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN: 978-3-946234-08-1 (Digital) 978-3-946234-09-8 (Hardcover) 978-3-946234-10-4 (Softcover) 978-1-523647-15-6 (Softcover US) ISSN: 2366-374X DOI:10.17169/langsci.b91.109 Cover and concept of design: Ulrike Harbort Typesetting: Felix Kopecky, Sebastian Nordhoff Proofreading: Jonathan Brindle, Andreea Calude, Joseph P. DeVeaugh-Geiss, Joseph T. Farquharson, Stefan Hartmann, Marijana Janjic, Georgy Krasovitskiy, Pedro Tiago Martins, Stephanie Natolo, Conor Pyle, Alec Shaw Fonts: Linux Libertine, Arimo, DejaVu Sans Mono Typesetting software:Ǝ X LATEX Language Science Press Habelschwerdter Allee 45 14195 Berlin, Germany langsci-press.org Storage and cataloguing done by FU Berlin Language Science Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party
    [Show full text]
  • Can We Give up the Origin of Humanity from a Primal Couple Without Giving up the Teaching of Original Sin and Atonement?
    S & CB (2015), 27, 59–83 0954–4194 ANTOINE SUAREZ Can we give up the origin of humanity from a primal couple without giving up the teaching of original sin and atonement? Recent genetic studies have strengthened the hypothesis that humans did not originate from a single couple of the species Homo sapiens. Different models have been proposed to harmonise this with Christian belief on original sin and atonement. In this article I discuss these models and propose a new explanation derived from Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica I, 98-100 and Romans 5:19;11:32. I argue that generations may have passed before the appearance of sin, and hence belief in ‘original sin’ does not require that it was committed by a pair of persons who are biologically the common ancestors of all human persons. In the light of this analysis I consider moral responsibility as the distinctive sign of human personhood, and assume that the creation of the first human persons happened during the Neolithic period. The article concludes that views of the biological origin of humanity from a primeval Homo sapiens population (polygenism) or a single couple (monogenism) are both compatible with Christian belief, and therefore deciding between these two hypotheses should be better left to science. Keywords: human evolution, genetic diversity, ‘Homo divinus’, ‘relational damage’, God’s intervention, first human persons, Adam and Eve, Romans 11:32, moral responsibility, original sin, atonement, Darwinian principles, monogenism, polygenism. Four appendices are available as online supplementary material. I Introduction The hypothesis that humans did not originate from a single couple of the species Homo sapiens is receiving increasing support from current re- search on individual whole-genome sequences.1 It is therefore important to interpret the Genesis narrative of the origins of mankind to account for these emerging scientific observations.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Perspective on the Development and Evolution of Human Language
    BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2006) 29, 259–325 Printed in the United States of America Language and life history: A new perspective on the development and evolution of human language John L. Locke Department of Speech–Language–Hearing Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, NY 10468. [email protected] Barry Bogin Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Michigan–Dearborn, Dearborn, MI 48128. [email protected] http://casl.umd.umich.edu/faculty/bbogin/ Abstract: It has long been claimed that Homo sapiens is the only species that has language, but only recently has it been recognized that humans also have an unusual pattern of growth and development. Social mammals have two stages of pre-adult development: infancy and juvenility. Humans have two additional prolonged and pronounced life history stages: childhood, an interval of four years extending between infancy and the juvenile period that follows, and adolescence, a stage of about eight years that stretches from juvenility to adulthood. We begin by reviewing the primary biological and linguistic changes occurring in each of the four pre-adult ontogenetic stages in human life history. Then we attempt to trace the evolution of childhood and juvenility in our hominin ancestors. We propose that several different forms of selection applied in infancy and childhood; and that, in adolescence, elaborated vocal behaviors played a role in courtship and intrasexual competition, enhancing fitness and ultimately integrating performative and pragmatic skills with linguistic knowledge in a broad faculty of language. A theoretical consequence of our proposal is that fossil evidence of the uniquely human stages may be used, with other findings, to date the emergence of language.
    [Show full text]